T-Mobile US raises down payment price of iPhone 5 to $149 very, very quietly

T-Mobile US has quietly raised the minimum down payment on the iPhone 5 from $99 to $149. When announcing iPhone availability at the end of March, little a word said about the fact that the initial $99 price tag for the 16GB iPhone 5 was a limited time promotional offer. According to TmoNews, this increase also impacts the 32GB and 64GB models.

The iPhone 5 with eligible plan now increases from $579 to $629 as your total overall payment over 24 months. The 32GB and 64GB models don’t escape the price increase either as they move to $249 and $349 down payments respectively. That’s a $50 increase in the net down payment across the board leading to a $50 increase in the total cost over the life of the plan to $729 and $529

While this is still the lowest upfront price of any of the carriers, if feels slightly deceptive. T-Mobile didn’t really talk about this at all during their announcement, and potential customers, still on other carriers and waiting for their contracts to run out, will undoubtedly be slightly disappointed. On that note, if you’re look to switch before your current contract runs out, T-Mobile’s iPhone trade-in program is still in full swing.